Annual Reminder (and some options) to Backup Your WordPress Blog

Having suffered from numerous computer crashes and server breakdowns, in spite of their promises, trust me when I say you need to make backing up your WordPress blog a part of your regularly scheduled maintenance and housekeeping.

In order to backup your WordPress blog, you must do two types of backups. The first one is to backup your WordPress Theme and all files on your blog’s server, such as your WordPress installation files, WordPress Plugins, and any static files and graphic files you use to create your site.

The second part of your backup is to backup the database which holds all the data and content for your blog. This is where the options listed by Futurosity come into play.

The latest version of WordPress came with a built-in backup feature, though there are rumors that it is staying or going in the next version. Check your Manage or Options panel to see if it is listed there. If not, you do have an option to download Skippy’s wp-db-backup WordPress Plugin, which was the basis for the built-in version, and make the process simple and easy.

WordPress.com blogs can export their posts to create a backup of the post content. To do so, from the Administration Panels choose Manage > Export. An XML file will be created containing all your posts, comments, custom fields, and categories. This file can then be imported into a WordPress blog on a full hosted server site, or into another blogging program which accepts XML imports.

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[…] Lorelle puts up a friendly reminder that you should be looking at backing up your blog. Far too many of us end up with nothing thanks to our own forgetfulness or inexperience when it comes to backing up our blogs. In order to backup your WordPress blog, you must do two types of backups. The first one is to backup your WordPress Theme and all files on your blog’s server, such as your WordPress installation files, WordPress Plugins, and any static files and graphic files you use to create your site. […]

[…] Lorelle posts this reminder that even in this new uninstalled world of web2.0 you still need to back up your data. Having suffered from numerous computer crashes and server breakdowns, in spite of their promises, trust me when I say you need to make backing up your WordPress blog a part of your regularly scheduled maintenance and housekeeping. […]